My little brother is getting married!

Yep... you saw it correct, Jake proposed to his girlfriend Brittany and she said yes! And yes, that is correct my sister's name is Brittaney and my sister-in-laws name is Brittany. Brittany is a great girl, and we can't wait to have her in our family.

Sicky McSickersons/More Pictures

This week has been a long one, involving all three of us getting a bad cold. A bad cold for Jack involves constant screaming, a nose so dry that it bleeds and never sleeping for more than a 3 hour stretch. We are all still sick, but I think that we are finally getting better.

We are beginning to look a bit addicted to getting pictures taken of Jack. A few weeks ago Matt took him to get his pictures taken as part of a package that we purchased a long time ago. He will get 4 sets of pictures in his first year from this place. If you want to see them the password is "McGurn". http://contemporaryexpressions.net/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=1333

The coveted "Tree #6"

So when Target has Christmas trees every tree has a number, and this year the hot tree was tree #6. It was a 6', pre lit, Philips tree. We were constantly sold out, and when all of the trees went clearance it was long gone. Well... yesterday I was up at Guest Service and to my amazement someone returned a tree #6! So... you can bet that for $30 (75% off + my team member discount) I purchased our very first full size Christmas tree.

Good Visit

Today was the big day I have been preparing for at Target and it went EXCELLENT! About 15 people from headquarters (Including some of the top people in the company) came to my store today to walk all of my grocery departments and see the new merchandising strategies that we have been trying. They thought it looked outstanding, they recognized us for all of our hard work, and they are going to be rolling out the strategies company wide! When you walk into a Target and see the new merchandising you can think that it all started at my store!

Now that that's over we can focus on getting packed up and moved!

Terrible Sound

I have decided the most terrible sound in the world is a wheezing, coughing baby who cannot sleep. It is 11PM and I should be sleeping, but instead I keep listening to him, praying that it will stop. Poor baby.

Great Weekend, Terrible Day

Yesterday ended an outstanding long weekend with a day trip to Estes Park. We ate wonderful french fries at Penelopes, shopped around town, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Then came today... I woke up with a TERRIBLE migraine which lasted the majority of the day, resulting in me trying to sleep all day and having to call in sick on potentially the worst week of the year (the CEO is visiting my store on Thursday). And... Jack woke up with his worst cold yet. So bad that he can't drink a bottle without taking breaks to breathe. He cried for most of the day, and only took one short nap. Matt's mom also went home today. In Matt's words today was, "emotionally draining. He sure is a good man though trying to take care of both of us.

First Rodeo/First Restaurant High Chair/More Pics

Last night we went to the Rio in Lodo for dinner and now that Jack is out of the baby seat we can't convienenty set his infant chair anywhere, so we gave the highchair a shot and he loved it! I think he enjoyed being table level with the rest of us.



















Then Jackson got to enjoy his first rodeo with us and his grandma Diane. He had a great time, and stayed up until 10:30 just enjoying all the action!





















Then today we took him back to the mall for another set of pictures. I told Matt all that I want for Valentines day is a picture of him and Jackson, which is what I got today!

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L Day

This morning Matt's mom got here and we packed up and headed out to Breckenridge. She watched Jackson and shopped while Matt and I skiied, and it was the best day of CO skiing since we moved here. There was not a cloud in the sky, the snow was awesome, Jack was with someone we could trust, and we got to spend an entire day just hanging out together. Then we all had a great dinner together, and headed home.

It was a WONDERFUL day.

4 Month Stats... Matt is wonderful.

I just realized that I never updated you all with Jack's 4 month stats... He is 27 inches, 20lbs, is off the charts for height and weight, and his head circumference is in the 75th percentile. Basically... his head isn't nearly as big as the rest of his body!

Lately work has been INSANE involving working two weekends in a row, numerous 12 hour days, and a 15.5 hour day yesterday (4AM-7:30PM)! Basically some "Big-Wigs" from headquarters are trying some new merchandising strategies in my meat and produce departments, involving hours and hours of help from me and my peer Racheal. To top things off, the Senior Vice President of the company will be coming to my store next Thursday morning to see everything that we have been doing... talk about a little stress.

Yesterday I was so overwhelmed and exhausted I came home and slept for 14 hours! Luckily today was my day off and Matt is wonderful, hence the title of this post. After my long day I came home to a clean house, all clean laundry, a homemade dinner, and a content baby that he kept awake just so that I could see him! I am SUPER blessed to have such an AMAZING husband.

Adventures in Baby Food Making

So now that Jackson has rounded the 4 month mark we have started giving him more than just formula! We started with the typical rice cereal, which was fun. Jackson definitely enjoyed the experience. I enjoyed it until he sneezed it all on my face and in my hair one day! Then we tried fresh avocado, which he also enjoyed. All we had to do was scoop it straight out of the avocado. Supposedly avocado has tons of nutrients making it an excellent first food for babies. Now tonight I had my first adventure with homemade baby food. I just cooked up some green beans, threw them into the food processor, added some water, and pureed them. Then I poured them into ice cube trays and for $1.00 total (the cost of a bag of frozen green beans) I have 16 servings of green beans! In order to serve them all we'll have to do is thaw them out. Hopefully he likes it! Next I'm going to try sweet potatoes and squash.

Jackson's 4 month appointment was on Thursday, the doctor said that he looks great. He also got his 4 month vaccinations and only cried for about 10 seconds!

This upcoming Thursday we get the keys to our new townhouse, we get Jackson's 4 month photos taken, and American Furniture is coming to take a look at our broken couch. Then on Friday Matt's mom is coming, I get a vacation day, and we are going to take Matt's mom to the Mountains to see Breckenridge and see Matt ski! Saturday night we are going to the National Western Stock Show Rodeo, Sunday we get to go to church for the first time in three weeks, and on Monday I get another vacation day where we are going to head up to Estes Park! We've got a fun filled long weekend coming up!

He's off the charts!

Today Matt brought Jackson into the doctor because we thought he had an ear infection (turns out he didn't and we are just paranoid first time parents). Anyways, he is 20 pounds and past the 99th percentile and couldn't even be plotted on the growth chart! I think Matt's dreams of Jackson following in his football footsteps are a likely possibility. Jackson had been holding his ear for the past two days, but the doctor said that it looked great, it may just be his coping mechanism for pain from teething.

Since I have posted since the New Year, I want to wish you all a Happy New Years. We hope that 2009 brings happiness, prosperity, and many other blessings. We rung in the new year with Matt's friend Matt Anderson from Crystal Lake, who just moved out to Denver. We had some excellent Fondue and actually were home before the clock hit 10:30!

We had an excellent time with my parents, and spent last Monday skiing at Keystone while my mom and grandpa watched Jackson. Then my parents headed home early Tuesday morning.

Jackson's 4 month appointment and vaccines are this Thursday, otherwise not too much is going on here, we're just getting prepared to move at the end of the month!